Queens Civic Congress Has Its Own Plan

No one who comes before the NYC Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission is going to admit to liking congestion. If they’re against the mayor’s congestion-pricing plan, they are usually going to come up with some kind of alternative.

Take the Queens Civic Congress, which advanced its position at an Oct. 30 hearing. Jim Trent, the chair of the group’s transportation committee, reiterated opposition to "any plan or scheme to impose a tax, fee or toll on vehicles to enter Manhattan." He then argued that "sound, cost-efficient and effective measures that reduce congestion without any reliance on the costly congestion tax scheme exist."

So what does the group want and how do they propose to fund it? They’re calling for a number of mass-transit improvements (PDF), including changes in F, G, and V routes, extension of LIRR local service in Queens, and a complete rethinking of the borough’s bus routes.

And how do they want to pay for it? Through the Queens Civic Congress Real Property Tax Reform Initiative, which, the group claims, would "capture billions of dollars in lost real estate tax revenue based on illegal uses and improper property classifications." They also propose "a surcharge on (New York State Adjusted Gross) income over $200,000" and a non-resident income tax.

While it’s refreshing to finally see Queens civic groups tackling transportation policy, their proposal has two major flaws. It offers no incentive to get people out of their cars and does nothing to get private automobiles out of the way of city buses.

If only we could provide the Queens Civic Congress leadership with airplane tickets to Paris, London and Bogota. In any of those three cities, Trent and friends will find bus systems that have emerged as competitive, high-quality transportation options either by pricing some cars off the street or by simply taking away street space from private automobiles and reassigning it to public buses.

Using property tax reform to pay for more buses to sit in steadily worsening traffic, isn’t a successful model in any city that we know of.

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While it’s refreshing to finally see Queens civic groups tackling traffic congestion and transportation issues, there are at least two important things that we’re not seeing in their proposal. First, the plan offers no incentive to get people out of their cars. And second, the plan does nothing to get private automobiles out of the way of city buses.

What I’ve been seeing from many Queens politicians and Trent and his group is that they’re all for pedestrian and transit improvements, but as soon as there’s any conflict with driving interests – in terms of funding, land use, or user fees – then pedestrians and transit users don’t matter any more.

I’d love to believe that it’s a win-win situation, and things can just keep getting better for pedestrians, transit users and motorists, but unfortunately it’s not. At some point we’re going to need to take away the car users’ subsidies and “free” road and bridge use. We can’t afford to keep paying and paying, and letting drivers dominate our streets and pollute our air. As long as Trent doesn’t acknowledge that, he’s no friend of transit.

Kate

The causes of the congestion are double parked trucks and taxicabs pulling over wherever they damn well please. Also, blocking the box is a problem, too. I don’t need a study to tell me these things, I witness it every day. It seems that we need more enforcement of laws than the charging of a fee, which many will have no choice but to pay anyway.

huh?

Everything is a choice. Including when and where to drive. What a concept.

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